Talk:Reviews
An AP cost for switching equipment would be sensible. Doesn't have to necessarily be 2 AP, but certainly a cost of some sort. I just started chapter 2, but already the entire way through chapter 1 to here I've been whoring out the free equipment changes. You can pretty much share accessories through the entire team on every turn, and switch certain ones in for 1-2 actions, then switch them back out. For example, you can put Spiked Helmet on a character who is attacking to get +4 damage per hit, and then switch it right back out at the end of that character's turn in order to avoid the defense penalties...and even then throw the helmet onto your next character's attacks, and so forth. You can do similar things with Thief Gloves to bolster accuracy, Cross Of Ecthain to heal harder, etc. Then after you're finished dicking out the accessories like that, you can then leave the characters with something like Red Belt or Boris' Ring to whore out the defensive buffs on the enemy turn, and then cycle everything again on every following turn. There's never a reason to end a turn with offensive accessories equipped (excluding Red Belt, if you count that), unless you have nothing better anyway. If anyone ever uses knives with Ysabel, she and Vadim can also share a single knife this way. Also pretty cheap is sharing Warden's Emblem between 2 characters. Passing this back and forth when ending alternate turns can give 2 characters access to odd-numbered SP cost abilities more frequently. For example, sticking this on Vadim for +6 SP per turn usually doesn't do too much good, since it doesn't really change the number of turns you have to wait for most of his skills. It will let him Kidney Jab every 2 turns rather than every 3, but you only need him to wear Warden's Emblem every other turn to achieve this. On the turns that he doesn't have the accessory, you can plop it on someone else to let them do a similar thing with their SP. Some powerful abilities have odd costs (like 11 SP), seemingly to allow you to only cast them every 3 turns rather than every 2, and Warden's Emblem is a way around that, but having 0 AP cost to switching equipment lets you simultaneously give 2 characters this benefit, which doesn't seem to be the intention. Apply an AP cost to changing equipment, even if it's 1 measly AP, will mean that now there is a tradeoff of losing an action (usually 1 attack) to equip and switch out an accessory for +4 damage/+10% hit/etc, making it generally more sensible to change equipment only between fights, yet leaving the flexibility of swapping things out at a cost if a situation demands it. Also, on the topic of AP, perhaps some skills would benefit from costing fewer AP. Skill use is already limited by SP costs, and many times the total cost of SP+AP makes these skills quite expensive. Two general examples come to mind: buffs and attacks with increased damage. Buffs like Ivan's Adrenaline/Vadim's Feign/Ysabel's Vendetta/etc currently cost 5 AP, which is very hefty, on top of 8-13 SP. Right now, you can basically cast a buff and move, or cast a buff and attack from where you're standing. If you move, you have 3 AP left, which is only good for using an item, throwing something, or shoving, in which case there typically isn't much point in casting your buff. Some buffs may work better with a reduced AP cost (2 or 3), allowing you to move, buff, and attack. Certain buffs, like Feign or Vendetta, may even function at 0 AP cost. Feign gives +20% hit and attack, which is nice, but it comes at a beastly cost of 13 SP + 5 AP. Many times you'd be better off using Kidney Jab, since it costs 2 fewer SP, stuns for 1 turn, and deals more damage (Feign lasts 2 turns, so Feign+attack, then attack+attack the following turn for 360% total damage per attack x3 - as opposed to Kidney Jab+attack, then attack+attack for 400% damage per attack x4. It's even worse for Feign if you have to move during these turns). Similar case for Vendetta. Ysabel already has really good accuracy. Sacrificing an attack and 8 AP to gain +50% accuracy is typically overkill, and you'd usually be better off just shooting one more time. The only reason to even consider this buff right now is in a whack-ass situation with crappy accuracy, or in synergy with Drunk Dart. Skills like Ivan's Spear Plus series or Tevoran's Overhead Slash/Disembowelment have gotten crap before for not being very useful, especially in comparison to stuns/debuffs/etc. They cost an average of 10 SP, along with the standard 5 AP of an attack, so in most cases there is little incentive to use these skills instead of a normal 5 AP attack. Hell, there's little incentive to even learn these skills in the first place! However, if they were to cost fewer AP, say 3, then you can move, attack, and use an attack skill. This would probably give these abilities enough utility to be worth learning and casting, and the hefty SP cost prevents these skills from being spammable anyway.